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| Peaches at her previous work site |
‘Peaches Peaches! Peaches Peaches!’*Peaches starts smiling, tilting her head and coming towards me to lick me and give me a kiss with her cute little nose (ahhh so cute)* This was my first encounter with Peaches, the most adorable little puppy that suddenly appeared out of nowhere at Milo’s and Muffin’s work site one day. I had heard so much from other volunteers about Peaches and how cute she was, how her vivacity and joy would bubble over to other dogs and humans that went into contact with her, but never had a chance to meet her until we had one of our adoption drives that she attended. She is indeed super cute as the other volunteers had described her to be. Seeing her ignites warmth in your heart and makes you feel happy and sweet, like you have just eaten some peaches. She makes you feel like life is all peaches and cream, even if it may not be so.
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| Cute little Peaches just appeared out of nowhere one day |
When our volunteers first saw Peaches at Milo’s and Muffin’s work site, she was scruffy and looked about 6 months old. She was smaller-sized back then and oh-so-friendly and cute, our volunteers all fell in love with her. Our volunteers noticed how unique-looking she was. She had wiry hair and a smiley face that was impossible not to love. Despite living in a dump, she was happy-go-lucky and frolicked around with innocence and gaiety. We brought Peaches to the vet for sterilisation then returned her to the work site. Peaches was an easy-going dog, running and playing in the mud with wild abandon, oblivious to the dangers around her. We were so worried about her as it was far too easy for the authorities to catch her given her sweet nature. Unfortunately, we had our hands full with other rescue doggies and were unable to take her in. The best we could do was to always check on her and make sure that she remained safe and healthy at the work site during our twice-weekly feeding rounds. So, how did Peaches end up with us? Well, one day, we saw that Peaches’ friend, Muffin had fractured her hip and decided to take both Muffin and Peaches out of the work site, for Muffin to be treated and for fear that Peaches would be injured as well. We tried our best to devise a way to maximise the space in one of our kind foster’s homes such that it could accommodate Peaches besides the other dogs there, and found a foster home for Muffin.
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| Peaches before rescue |
Since then, a group of volunteers have been taking turns to care for Peaches at the foster’s place and enjoying her company. They have all noticed how Peaches is able to get even the meekest dog to open up and play with her. Her positive energy rubs off on everyone and every dog like an eraser. Peaches has given us so much fun, joy and happiness. We hope she can be happy too, and we are ecstatic to share that Peaches has been blessed with her furever home.
Some of Peaches’ friends have been less lucky. One by one, Peaches and her friends are leaving the foster’s place but some are still waiting for their furever homes. They are all such sweet darlings and so nice, it breaks our hearts to see them without a home. Then there are still those who have worst fates out there that we do not know of or are unable to help due to a lack of resources. There is only so much we can do. We can provide kind workers with canned food to feed the dogs in the industrial areas on the days that we are unable to go down personally, we can bring injured dogs to the vet, we can educate the workers on proper care for the dogs, we can sterilise as many dogs as possible, but in the end, the best present for the dogs is a furever home, a place where the dog feels he belongs and can have a mummy or daddy to love.
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| Peaches after being rescued |
Winnie the Pooh said before ‘how lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so difficult’ and ‘sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart’. I think I am really blessed to have found so many dogs under Hope’s care that have made saying goodbye so difficult and taken up so much space in my heart! I hope all the doggies can be as fortunate and manage to find an owner that will fill up their hearts.
Dogs and humans alike, we all have our own fates and our own paths and journeys that we must traverse. Some street dogs have a better life on earth while others suffer all their lives. Some find homes very soon while some spend a lifetime living on the streets, getting attacked and abused. We are unable to save all the dogs in the world but one dog at a time is better than nothing. Together, we can bring more dogs away from a dog’s life. One dog saved is actually two, three or more lives transformed, because by saving one dog, resources are freed up for another dog to be rescued, and those who rescued the dog(s) get new leashes of life too from the lessons they get to learn from the dog(s). Love a dog today! Adopt a street dog and save a life because only you can make a difference.
Written by: Weiling
